External Benefit Evaluation of Renewable Energy Power in China for Sustainability
1
School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
2
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Marc A. Rosen
Sustainability 2015, 7(5), 4783-4805; https://doi.org/10.3390/su7054783
Received: 15 February 2015 / Revised: 8 April 2015 / Accepted: 10 April 2015 / Published: 23 April 2015
China’s renewable energy power has developed rapidly in recent years. Evaluating the external benefits of renewable energy power can provide a reference for the Chinese government to set diverse development goals and to implement differentiated supporting policies for different renewable energy power types, which can promote their sustainable development. In this paper, a hybrid MCDM method was applied to evaluate the external benefits of China’s renewable energy power. Firstly, the impacts of renewable energy power accessing the power grid for multiple stakeholders in the electric power system were analyzed. Secondly, the external benefit evaluation index system for renewable energy power was built from the economic, social and environmental factors, based on the concept of sustainability. Then, the basic theory of the hybrid MCDM method employed in this paper was introduced in two parts: the superiority linguistic ratings and entropy weighting method for index weight determination and the fuzzy grey relation analysis for ranking alternatives. Finally, the external benefits of wind power, solar PV power and biomass power were evaluated. Taking a regional electric power system as an example, the results show that PV power has the greatest external benefit, followed by wind power and biomass power. Therefore, more policies supporting PV power should be put in place to promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the whole renewable energy power industry.
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Keywords:
renewable energy power; external benefit evaluation; hybrid MCDM method; China; sustainability
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zhao, H.; Guo, S. External Benefit Evaluation of Renewable Energy Power in China for Sustainability. Sustainability 2015, 7, 4783-4805. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7054783
AMA Style
Zhao H, Guo S. External Benefit Evaluation of Renewable Energy Power in China for Sustainability. Sustainability. 2015; 7(5):4783-4805. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7054783
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhao, Huiru; Guo, Sen. 2015. "External Benefit Evaluation of Renewable Energy Power in China for Sustainability" Sustainability 7, no. 5: 4783-4805. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7054783
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